Month: August 2010

Battle: Los Angeles revolves around a Marine staff sergeant (Eckhart) and his new platoon’s battle against an alien invasion on the streets of Los Angeles. The movie is presented as an intense real-time war movie from the perspective of the Marines. It has been described by some as “Black Hawk Down meets Independence Day”. It will be a live-action drama, showcasing the United States Marines attempting to defeat an alien invasion of planet Earth.

Fletcher Reede (Jim Carrey) is a particularly career-focused lawyer and divorced father. He has a habit of giving precedence to his job, breaking promises to his young son Max, and then lying to both Max (Justin Cooper) and his ex-wife Audrey (Maura Tierney) about the real reason for having done so. Ultimately, Fletcher misses his son’s birthday party because he is having sex with his partner Miranda (Amanda Donohoe), and Max wishes while blowing out his cake candles that his father couldn’t tell a lie for an entire day, a wish that immediately becomes true.

Fletcher soon discovers, through a series of embarrassing incidentsâ€”such as when he tells Miranda that he has “had better” just after having sex with herâ€”that he is unable to lie or even withhold a true answer. These incidents are inconvenient, as he is fighting a divorce case in court which, should he win, could be a huge boost to his career. His client is Samantha Cole (Jennifer Tilly). His main witness is willing to commit perjury to win, but Fletcher discovers that he cannot even ask a question if he knows the answer will be a lie; during the case he even objects to himself when he tries to lie to get the desired information. Meanwhile, Audrey is threatening to move to Boston with her new boyfriend Jerry (Cary Elwes) and to take Max with them.

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The premise of Liar Liar, that of a protagonist who must tell the truth for the next 24 hours, can also be found in the Bob Hope movie Nothing But the Truth (1941 film).

The film opens in the Forbidden City in 1887, where Chon Lin (Fann Wong) is drinking tea with her father, the Keeper of the Imperial Seal of China. She tells him her brother, Chon Wang (Jackie Chan), is doing well as a sheriff in Carson City, Nevada, United States, but her father replies that her brother is dead to him. At that moment, Lord Nelson Rathbone (Aidan Gillen), leads a band of Boxers into the city, who attack the Keeper. Rathbone stabs him and leaves with the seal. As he lies dying, he gives Lin a puzzle box and a letter to Chon Wang.

Back in the Wild West, Chon Wang is doing well as sheriff, having captured an impressive array of fugitives. His deputy is relaxing with a book called “Roy O’Bannon Vs. The Mummy”, a highly fictionalized account of the events of the first film that now portrays Wang’s “Shanghai Kid” as a cowardly sidekick.

Wang receives a parcel, which contains the puzzle box and Lin’s letter, telling him his father is dead and that she has tracked the murderer to London.

Chon Wang travels to New York City to find his old partner Roy O’Bannon (Owen Wilson), needing his share of the gold left over from the first film to buy his ticket. Roy has left his brief stint in law enforcement, broken off his romance with Falling Leaves, spent most of the gold investing in the Zeppelin, and is now a hotel waiter and part-time gigolo. After they attempt prostitution to pay for a trip to England, the Mayor of New York arrives in search of his daughters, Roy’s latest clients. Chon Wang fights off a number of New York police officers, and he and Roy ship themselves to London in a crate. On the way, Wang tells Roy about his father, and Roy swears an oath to help reclaim the seal.

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Roy and Wang are knighted, as is Artie, whose full name is now Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Artie decides to become a writer, his stories revolving around his deductive reasoning technique, and asks Roy if he can use the “Sherlock Holmes” name. Roy and Lin kiss, and Roy proposes that he and Wang go to Hollywood to get in on the ground floor with motion pictures. They roll off in a buggy, with Charlie stowed away. Wang also manages to open the box his father sent him, finding a message inside reminding him of the importance of family.

Ten years after the adventures of Stanley Ipkiss, who does not appear in this film, Dr. Aurthur Neuman (Ben Stein) is giving a tour of the hall of Norse Mythology in Edge City Museum. A man in black comes in to view the hall. When Dr. Neuman reaches the part concerning Loki’s imprisonment, the stranger becomes very angry and transforms, revealing himself to be Loki (Alan Cumming). The tourists panic and flee, but Dr. Neuman stays to argue with the angry god. Loki takes his mask, but realizes it is a fake. In anger he removes Dr. Neuman’s still talking face from his body and puts it on the mask’s stand before getting rid of the guards and storming out of the museum in a whirlwind of rage.

In a town called Fridge City, Tim Avery (Jamie Kennedy), an aspiring cartoonist at an animation company, is feeling reluctant to become a father. He has a beautiful wife, Tonya (Traylor Howard), and a best friend, Jorge (Kal Penn), who is very shy around women. Tim has a close relationship with his dog Otis, who finds an ancient mask in a faroff creek and brings it to his owner’s house.

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Tim then comes back to work, with a great idea for a cartoon: A baby and a dog competing for Dad’s attention. At the end, Tonya reveals that she is pregnant again.